In the UK bats are protected. If you have any nesting in your house it's against the law to do anything to kick them out. If they leave then you can block up holes etc to stop them returning.
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ChrisF♦Aug 15 '11 at 20:07

I believe they are protected in the US as well.
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Brian MaltzanAug 15 '11 at 20:39

@ChrisF, it appears it may possible to get a special license to grant an exception to the law, at no cost (disclaimer: I am not a UK resident, I just found the link while googling the topic)
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Kevin KAug 16 '11 at 2:46

5 Answers
5

A pest control contractor supplied me with a box of a copper mesh material that could be stuffed into cracks that were serving as entry ways for bats (when they were known to be out). It looks somewhat like a very course steel wool, but in copper. It doesn't rust, so it doesn't discolor siding, and is flexible, but doesn't stay compressed if you squeeze it. It worked well for our place where bats were following the channels in our vertical siding into a cavity behind the fascia boards.

Around here chicken wire describes a general type of wire mesh and not a specific size. Obviously the holes will need to be sufficiently small enough for bats not to get through.
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Cody CAug 22 '11 at 19:53

It's hard to attract bats, most purpose bat houses go empty. Feel blessed you've got bats. You like mosquito bites? But you might consider building something to restrict them to a certain area of the attic.

Without seeing your home it's hard to give an accurate reply. You mentioned the soffit and facia: we had an ever so small but big enough gap for both mice and bats to get in where the soffit and wall meet. We caulked all the way around the house on two levels. It was a lot of tubes but worth it.

If you have had bats in the attic and you get them out you also need to consider clean up of the insulation as their waste is toxic.